This week in TV Guide: January 12, 1974

Looking back through the years, I have, more than once, used the terms "Super Bore" or "Stupor Bowl" to refer to the Super Bowl. The game is only a small part of what has grown to encompass special commercials made for the occasion, pregame and halftime concerts featuring superstar artists, and marathon analysis both before and after the game. (It doesn't hurt that there have actually been some pretty good games the last couple of decades, but face it—that's just a bonus.)

Back in the 1970s, though, the game was the thing, to paraphrase Shakespeare, and over the first seven editions, the "ultimate game" hadn't really delivered much. Several of them had been blowouts, the two games won by the AFL had been huge upsets but not all that interesting, and the closest game—Baltimore's 16-13 victory over Dallas three years ago—had been so full of mistakes by both teams pit was called the "Blunder Bowl."

Al Stump uses the "Super Bore" line in his preview of Sunday's Big Game between the defending champion Miami Dolphins and the NFC champion Minnesota Vikings, from Rice Stadium in Houston (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS). Even in its infancy, the game had a feeling approaching "near-lunacy," with the game being the last thing on anyone's mind; Washington defensive back Mike Bass recalls having to attend three team press conferences, photo events, program signing parties, team busses stalled in traffic jams (last year's game was played in Los Angeles), besides practicing for, you know, the game. "Things are so wild that you're distracted—to the point where you can't perform normally on the field. At the kickoff, those 22 cats out there are in trouble, man." Not surprisingly, the game itself was "dull and a letdown, with some spectators walking out before the Dolphins finally beat the skins 14-7."

Stump calls these past games "a bore, and, at times, a farce," where the teams "make an abundance of errors and do little scoring." Coaches, feeling the pressure and fearing defeat, run ultra-conservative game plans and use even tighter defenses than the regular season. There have been few spectacular plays in Super Bowls (only four times has a runner gained 20 or more yards on a single run), and no last-minute comebacks. And in those seven games, a total of only 12 touchdown passes have been thrown. (In fact, there have only been 25 touchdowns in total scored in the game's history.) 

That doesn't stop CBS from offering up today's contest as the "ultimate game," utilizing 14 color cameras and six miles of cable, and "[n]o fewer than 15 experts will be trotted out, or roughly one expert for every five players who'll see action." But, then, who says it's about the game? "The past seven Super Bowls have sold 543,852 tickets, taken in $25 million and paid $8.7 million to the athletes. NBC and CBS, investing $17,750,000 for telecast rights since 1967, now reach 28 milion homes and some 75 million people. A cool 10 million words have been filed from Super Bowl press boxes." That's what the Super Bowl is all about, Charlie Brown. 

As I mentioned at the outset, the Super Bowl has come a long way since these early days. The networks spend more and more money to broadcast the game to more and more viewers, while commercials sell for extraordinarily obscene amounts of money (in 1974, 30 seconds sold for $103,000, while last year, a half-minute commercial would cost you $7 million.) The game was played in the afternoon back in 1974 (preceded by an NBA game), and the pregame show was only 30 minutes long. The half-time entertainment was provided by the University of Texas Longhorn Band, with Miss Texas, Judy Mallett, playing the fiddle. Networks didn't bother to try and introduce a promising show in the coveted post-game timeslot; Super Bowl VIII was followed by the local news. 

As for Super Bowl VIII? Well, it fit the pattern to a T; the Dolphins dominated early and often with its ground game; Miami quarterback Bob Griese through only seven passes (completing six, for 63 yards total), while the Dolphins rushed for almost 200 yards on 53 attempts. No touchdown passes were thrown by either team. The final score was Miami 24, Minnesota 7, and it wasn't even that close.

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From 1963 to 1976, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever they appear, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era. 

James Stewart's transition to television as star of his own series has not, Cleveland Amory says, been a smooth one. In his previous try, the "unlamented" Jimmy Stewart Show, he played a college professor "with all the authority of a nervous giraffe." Now, as a high-powered country lawyer in the 90-minute Hawkins, airing as part of CBS's new Tuesday Night Movies wheel series, he returns to "the kind of role that made him famous—the barefoot boy with chic." And while he has all the gestures down pat, it's the kind of character that has always had a limited range; "At its best, it makes you nostalgic for some of Mr. Stewart's old films. At its worst, it makes you wonder what you ever saw in them."

We could just stop right here, because this gives you the jist of Cleve's thoughts on Hawkins, but we continue because 1) he has more to say about why he feels this way, and 2) I have two more paragraphs to fill. The problem with a series like Hawkins, is that it plays to all the cliches we've come to expect from shows with a cornpone sense of things. Take Stewart's character, for instance, whose name is Billy Jim Hawinks. (He has a cousin, "R.J.," played by Strother Martin, and a nephew, "Jeremiah," in case we didn't get the point.) As the series is structured, Hawkins is often retained to travel to the big city to defend big shots, which gives it the fish-out-of-water trope of McCloud, plus the aw-shucks jurisprudence that Andy Griffith would put to more effective use in Matlock. Hawkins plays up this angle, which we know is false to start with because otherwise he wouldn't have such a reputation that the big shots hire him instead of, say, F. Lee Bailey. 

The plots don't help out. One involved one of Billy Jim's kinfolk who's killed in a Civil War recreation, and Hawkins not only has to defend the man accused of the crime (who happens to be thoroughly unlikable) but also has to prevent an old feud from flaring up. Even Lew Ayres, who played a Civil War historian, couldn't save this one. Neither could Julie Harris, in another episode that involves a rich old man who's murdered by his much younger wife; "there is," Amory observes, "one time when Billy Jim gets driven off the road," but as far as suspense goes, "that was it." It's all too bad, because James Stewart, throughout his career, gave ample evidence of being able to play a character with a very sharp, and vary dark, edge. Something like that might have helped Hawkins make it past one season, although Stewart himself asked that the show be cancelled becaue he didn't believe the scripts could measure up to the quality he'd been used to working with. It's another case, I fear, of what might have been.

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Two of television's definitive rock music shows, NBC's The Midnight Special and ABC's In Concert, faced off on Friday nights in the early '70s. Whenever the two slug it out, we'll be on hand to see who's better, who's best.

Midnight: Host Smoke Robinson welcomes blues group Paul Butterfield's Better Days, soul artists Eddie Kendricks, Johnny Taylor, Edwin Starr and Ann Peebles, and rock group Grin. Smokey sings "The Tracks of My Tears," "The Tears of a Clown," "Mickey's Monkey," "Show and Tell."

Concert: An all-oldioes show featuring Jerry Lee Lewis, Del Shannon, Little Anthony, Freddie Cannon and Rufus Young. Songs include "Great Balls of Fire," "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On'" (Lewis), "Runaway," "Handy Man" (Shannon), "Hurt So Bad" (Little Anthony).

The emphasis is on the oldies this week, and the winner depends in large part on what suits your taste. As for me, it'll be tough to beat Del Shannon and The Killer, so the summary is short and sweet: Concert has the fire this week.

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Having looked back at last Saturday's writeup, I think I fell short when it came to looking at what was actually on TV. That doesn't mean it was bad; I wouldn't have given it to you if I'd thought that. But let's see what's up besides the Super Bowl and our rock shows.

It's a big week on the movie front, dominated by a trio of John Wayne classics, foremost among them being with the second showing of The Duke's Oscar-winning turn in True Grit (Sunday, 7:30 p.m., ABC). Judith Crist finds it irrestible, "one of the rip-roaringest, snortingest (and belchingest) entertainments in a long time." It is, she says, "early John Wayne in spirit, the latter-day Wayne in the flesh." The previous night, on the same network, we're treated to the fourth telecast of The Sons of Katie Elder (Saturday, 8:30 p.m.), "still as good-natured and simple-minded as ever," with Wayne as the eldest of the Elder boys, and Dean Martin next in line, "and you can write the script yourself." The week wraps up with the third showing of The Undefeated (Friday, 8:30 p.m., CBS), with Rock Hudson sharing the bill. It's "spiced by brawls, massacres, murders and executions. Just a good clean all-American entertainment." Hey, it works for me. 

It's a tribute to John Wayne's star power that this triple-header relegates to second place the network television premiere of From Russia with Love, the second of the James Bond adventures (Monday, 9:00 p.m., ABC, and what a movie week they're having!), with Sean Connery as dynamic as ever as the superspy, Robert Shaw and Lotte Lenya as the heavies, and Daniela Bianchi as "the major sexpot" (although I don't think that's how she appears in the credits. Crist calls it "vintage grown-up nonsense," which is a compliment coming from her. And as if it weren't already a big week for ABC, Wednesday night sees a repeat of 1972's The Night Stalker (8:00 p.m.), "that diverting tale of a vampire stalking Las Vegas," starring Darren McGavin, Simon Oakland, and Carol Lynley in the first of two TV-movies leading to the much-loved Kolchak series. 

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And now for the rest of the week, and though I've mentioned this before, I'll say it again: Saturday night used to be a prime night for television, and on a week-to-week basis nothing surpasses the Murderer's Row CBS schedule, with All in the Family at 8:00 p.m., M*A*S*H T 8:30, Mary Tyler Moore at 9:00, The Bob Newhart Show at 9:30, and The Carol Burnett Show at 10:00; Carol's guests tonight are Eydie Gorme and Paul Sand. Add to that The Sons of Katie Elder on ABC and another Western, The Way West, with Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, and Richard Widmark on NBC 9:00 p.m.), and you can see why people used to stay home. Why that changed, I'm not sure.

Sunday features one of the most popular episodes of Columbo, "Publish or Perish"  (8:30 p.m., NBC), in which the consummate Columbo villain, Jack Cassidy, returns as a publisher who hires a hitman to bump off his his leading writer (Mickey Spillaine!), who's preparing to move over to another publishing house. Meanwhile, Watergate is going to play out in a big way in 1974, and on Firing Line (10:00 p.m., PBS), host William F. Buckley Jr. and presidential aide Patrick Buchanan discuss the subpoenaed White House tapes, plus media coverage of the scandal.

Avid readers (as well as fans of Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry) will remember P.G. Wodehouse as the author of the wonderfully witty Jeeves and Wooster stories (35 short stories and 11 novels, written between 1915 and 1974). Despite their being set in a world that is long gone, however, Wodehouse is still alive and writing at age 92, and on Monday night he's the guest of Bob Cromie on Book Beat (10:30 p.m., PBS), where he reflects on the disappearance of humorous writing and recalls some of his contemporaries, including James Thurber and Dorothy Parker.

The Super Bowl isn't the only stare-studded sports event this week; Tuesday night sees the NBA All-Star Game, live from Seattle (9:30 p.m., CBS). The West Coast locale is, in part, responsible for the late hour of the game's start, but it's also true that the low-rated NBA is no substitute for CBS's regular prime-time lineup, and so the start time allows the network to fit in episodes of Maude and Hawaii Five-O. I doubt that most people remember the game (it was won by the West, 134-123), but they will remember the series that premieres that night on ABC as part of the network's second season: a 50's-inspired sitcom called Happy Days (8:00 p.m.). That's followed at 8:30 p.m. by yet another ABC TV-movie, Mrs. Sundance, a sequel to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, starring Elizabeth Montgomery in the title role, with future husband Robert Foxworth as the man trying to track her down. 

We'll turn to late night for Wednesday's highlight, a 90-minute roast of Steve Allen on ABC's Wide World of Entertainment (11:30 p.m.). The occasion is Allen's 25th year on television, and many former co-stars from his various shows are on hand, including Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Jayne Meadows, Louis Nye, and Tim Conway; George Burns, Buddy Hackett, Rowan & Martin, Jack Carter, and Zsa Zsa Gabor are also on hand. Milton Berle is the roastmaster. I'm happy to report that you can catch it all here.

Thursday sees the debuts of two half-hour dramas on ABC; first, it's Chopper One (8:00 p.m.), with Jim McMullan and Dirk Benedict playing cops in helicopters, and Ted Hartley as their boss. It's a formula good for 13 weeks. That's followed by Firehouse (8:30 p.m.), a modification of that formula, starring James Drury, Richard Jaeckel, and Michael Delano as L.A. firefighters; think Emergency! without the paramedic bit. It's also primed for a 13-week run. Better, I think, to go local with WKBG's airing of the political thriller Seven Days in May (8:00 p.m.), starring Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Frederic March, and Ava Gardner.

If you're looking for an alternative to The Duke on Friday night, you can return to ABC for the premiere of The Six Million Dollar Man as a weekly series (8:30 p.m.); formerly, it had been a rotating part of ABC's Movie of the Week, with three telemovies airing in 1973. And, speaking of roasts as we were a moment ago, the final season of Dean Martin's weekly variety series, now on Friday, is best known for the "Man of the Week" celebrity roast; this week, the honoree is baseball's Leo Durocher, with Maury Wills, Dizzy Dean, Bobby Riggs, Alex Karras, Gene Kelly, Chuck Connors, and Foster Brooks among the roasters (10:00 p.m., NBC). Gladys Knight and the Pips are the musical guests. Next season, the celebrity roasts will expand to a full hour and appear as occasional specials.

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The Woman's Lib movement is in full swing in 1974, and perhaps the most dramatic television example comes on Friday, when Boston's WBZ devotes the entire day—not just prime time, but 16 hours, from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., to a live special, Yes, We Can!, "entirely produced and staffed by women, with only women appearing on air, discussing women’s concerns." As you can see from the ad at the left, there's no topic off limits; it sounds much like the kinds of day-long seminars conducted nowadays, with main speakers, breakout sessions, vendors, demonstrations, and various activities from which attendees can pick and choose. A live variety show hosted by entertainment critic Pat Mitchell, featuring only female entertainers (including Helen Reddy and The Labelles) precedes the special at 10:00 p.m. on Thursday. 

It wasn't that long ago that we were marveling at ABC's Africa documentary that took up an entire prime-time in September, 1967, but that was only four hours, not an entire day. The only thing I can think of that compares to this is a telethon, but when you think of it, that's what this amounts to: a telethon raising not funds, but awareness. 

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Finally, to answer the question posed on the cover: why TV is having a crime wave. The answer, according to Paul Klein, is a simple one: it normally takes two years for a show to go from idea to treatment to script to sale. Two years ago, two of the big hits on television were Columbo and Cannon. Producers and networks took notice. And here we are today, with crime shows all over the place. There's more to it than that, of course, but why make things more complicated than they already are? 

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MST3K alert: The Human Duplicators (1964) Outer-space aliens pose as humans in their plan for conquest. George Nader, Barbara Nichols, George Macready, Richard Arlen, Huge Beaumont, Richard Kiel, Dolores Faith, Tommy Leonetti, Lonnie Satin. Good cast in a so-so sci-fi movie. (Saturday, 11:30 p.m., Channel 5) The description isn't exactly accurate; Richard Kiel plays an alien plotting to create android duplicates to use in the takeover of Earth. But the movie doesn't really matter; what you want to see is the second appearance of "Hugh Beaumont" (Michael J. Nelson), this time griping about how it's always "How's Beaver?" but never "How's Hugh." Worth the price of admission. TV  

Around the dial

Whenever we'd go to Chicago, we'd always include in our stops a trip to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, one of my favorite museums. The Broadcast Archives has the story of how the MBC has been forced out of its home; hopefully, this won't be the end of the line for them.  

At Classic Film & TV Cafe, Rick shares seven things to know about The Jimmy Stewart Show, the 1971-72 comedy that marked the star's first foray into series television. As was the case with so many 1970s series fronted by major movie stars, the show lasted a single season, so here's your chance to learn more about it.

The Hitchcock Project continues at bare-bones e-zine, with Jack beginning his look at the teleplays of Halsted Welles. This week's episode, from the show's fourth season, is "The Dusty Drawer," a revenge story starring Dick York and Philip Coolidge. Not one of my favorites, but Jack's writeup, as always, is spot-on.

Keeping with the Hitchcockian theme, The Last Drive In series on the leading ladies of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour returns with some fine work by Betty Field, Teresa Wright, Kim Hunter, Margaret Leighton, and Juanita Moore. Stand by for extensive episode descriptions and pictures galore!

At The Horn Section, Hal is back in F Troop land with the season one episode "A Fort's Best Friend is Not a Mother," and the mother in question is Captain Parmenter's own. How do O'Rourke and Agarn get the Captain out of this jam and preserve the good thing they've got going with O'Rourke Enterprises? Don't worry; they're up for the challenge.

Hammer House of Horror is always good for a chill or two, and at Realweegiemidget, Gill takes us through the chilling "Children of the New Moon," with a terrific performance by British film star Diana Dors as the "far too helpful and friendly" woman we always know we should be wary of.

One of the things I always appreciated about Columbo was that the show didn't skimp on big stars in supporting parts—not just the killer, but smaller roles as well. This week, at Once Upon a Screen, Aurora focuses on those murderers, with five movie stars turned Columbo killers. Not that they actually killed Columbo—you get the point.

Cult TV Blog makes a rare trip across the Atlantic as John reviews the Kojak episode "The Chinatown Murders," a terrific two-hour episode in which Theo Kojak has to deal with a Mafia war in Chinatown, including plenty of twists and turns. 

One of the more interesting aspects of domestic sitcoms is the architecture of the family home. While most of them were similar in construction, Terence looks at a couple of exceptions at A Shroud of Thoughts: the homes seen in The Real McCoys and Dobie Gillis. Find out what makes these homes unusual.

Speaking of Dobie Gillis, at Travalanche, Trav looks at the many shows of its star, Dwayne Hickman. Thanks to the aforementioned Horn Section, we know Dwayne from Love That Bob as well as Dobie, but you'll be able to see a long list of credits here.

And where would we be without a look at The Avengers, a show which is about to reappear on our personal weekly viewing schedule. At The View from the Junkyard, Roger and Mike take turns on the sci-fi flavored "Man-Eater of Surrey Green," with Steed and Mrs. Peel battling man-eating plants.

There—that should give you all something to chew on, so to speak. TV  

This week in TV Guide: March 2, 1974

It isn't easy making the transition from movie star to television star. Robert Montgomery did it, as both producer and occasional star of Robert Montgomery Presents. Robert Taylor did it, going from being one of the biggest of movie stars to The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor. Shirley Booth won a Best Actress Oscar before Hazel, and Walter Brennan won three Oscars before embarking on a long and successful career in television. I'm sure you can think of other examples from the day.

But it's not for everyone. Yul Brynner found that it was easier to play the King of Siam on Broadway and in the movies than it was on the small screen. Henry Fonda's TV career wasn't exactly Primrose Lane, and Bing Crosby was far more successful with his TV specials than with The Bing Crosby Show. Glenn Ford had some success, with Cade's County running for two seasons, but it helped that he already had a reputation as a western star.

And this brings us to Jimmy Stewart.

Stewart is currently starring in Hawkins, part of CBS's Tuesday Night Movies wheel series*, in which he plays small-town attorney Billy Jim Hawkins, a character not unlike Paul Biegler, the small-town attorney Stewart played so well in Anatomy of a Murder. Only eight episodes of Hawkins are made; according to the always-reliable Wikipedia, Stewart asked out of the series after one season, despite it being a critical success, believing that "the quality of scripts and directors in television could not continuously measure up to the level to which he was accustomed with theatrical films." It seems appropriate, therefore, that the entirety of Maurice Zolotow's article consists of Stewart, on the set of Hawkins, reminiscing about his Hollywood movie career.

*Hawkins alternated with various TV-movies, as well as Shaft, starring Richard Roundtree. What is it we were saying about stars trying to make the transition from movies to television?

The headline is pure Stewart: "Wal, in the Old Days, Y'See..." Sounds like it came straight from the Carson show, doesn't it? By this time, Stewart is the veteran of 74 movies in a career that stretches over 40 years, and you can tell he takes great pleasure in recalling the stars at MGM: Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, William Powell, Greer Garson—and, yes, Robert Montgomery and Robert Taylor. Stewart acted with them all; one of his fondest memories is when he had to kiss Jean Harlow in Wife vs. Secretary (1936). Did I say he "had" to kiss her? We should all be forced to do such things: "He reports that Jean Harlow really kissed when she kissed. She did not believe in make-believe. She kissed him to the depths of his soul. It remains one of his most shattering sensory experiences."

Ronald Coleman, William Powell and Myrna Loy thrilled him when he saw them in the commissary. He destroyed a new car—the brakes failed while it was parked—trying to impress Olivia de Havilland on a date. He also went out with Ginger Rogers, Jeannette MacDonald, Alice Faye, Hedy Lamarr, Eleanor Powell and Lana Turner before he married Gloria in 1949. He speaks highly of his time at MGM; "Don't believe those cliches about Metro being a factory." He remembers the magic of making movies—"They were magicians. They could build anything, stage anything, they could turn this sound stage into the Sahara Desert or the North Pole or fight the battle of the Spanish Armada—nothing." The memories of a remarkable life—souvenirs, Zolotow calls them—flow from Stewart; as Zolotow says in conclusion, "often, while he is filming Hawkins, he will bring one out and share it with those around him."

Hawkins was not Stewart's first try at a television series; in 1971 he starred in The Jimmy Stewart Show, as a small-town college professor. (See any similarities at work here?) The Jimmy Stewart Show (the only time Stewart ever allowed himself to be billed as "Jimmy" on screen, rather than "James") only ran for one season before being cancelled; after the end of Hawkins, Stewart will return to television only as a guest on talk or variety shows, but never again as the star of a series.

And perhaps that's it after all, the reason Jimmy Stewart never made it big on television: it was too small for him.

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On weeks when we can, we'll match up two of the biggest rock shows of the '70s, NBC's The Midnight Special and the syndicated Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, and see who's better, who's best.

Kirshner: The Steve Miller Band and the Raspberries are the guests. Songs include "Living in the U.S.A.," "Space Cowboy," "Mar Lou," "Gangster of Love," "Come On in My Kitchen," "Seasons," "The Joker" (Steve Miller).

Special: Gladys Knight and the Pips host, with Curtis Mayfield, Richie Havens, rock artist Jobriath, singer-composer Jim Weatherly, and rock groups Spooky Tooth and Les Variations.

This is another week where I don't have to think too much about the choices. Curtis Mayfield and Richie Havens work, but I can't say that I was ever a big fan of Gladys and the Pips—well, I could, but I'd be lying, and I don't want to encourage that. The rest of the lineup is just too not-to-my-taste. Not that I'm over the hill on Steve Miller either, but at least you know what you're getting: a lot of hits. Stick with Kirshner this week.

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Throughout the 60s and early 70s, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever we get the chance, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the series of the era. 

Sometimes you have to search to find out what Cleveland Amory thinks about a series, but other times it's right there in the first paragraph. This is one of those times.

The show in question is Dirty Sally, a comedy-drama Western starring Jeanette Nolan and Dack Rambo. And here is that opening paragraph in its entirety, for you to judge: "We've warned you before about watching shows that start with a song, but somehow you always forget. From now on just try to remember the three ills of mankind—wine, women and song. And the song that starts this one will really make you ill, man. It goes: 'She nursed him and she cursed him / And she taught him right from wrong / . . . She was a grandma to the lad / He was the son she never had.' There are more lines, but we've punished you enough. You can stop cringing."

Nolan, as Sally, is the woman in the song, nursing and cursing Rambo, whom she nursed back to health in a two-part episode of Gunsmoke a couple of years ago; I guess Doc Adams must have been busy at the time. Anyway, a spinoff was inevitable, since CBS claimed the story received more mail than any other episode in Gunsmoke's history. but Cleve isn't falling for it. "Our theory is that they received the mail, but did not open it." He also quotes the CBS press release describing Dirty Sally as a "half-hour family Western," and ads that the network "sure was right about the 'half' part, because if we ever saw half a show, this is it. It's so thin, you can lose weight just watching it." Dirty Sally premiered in January, as a replacement for the cancelled Calucci's Dept.; Amory describes the change as "not just a step down—it's a full flight." He doesn't particularly like the storylines, nor the characters, though he feels that Miss Nolan is getting "everything there is out of her lines," and Rambo does his best with what is "at best half a part."

I don't want you to be left with the idea that Amory doesn't like anything about the show, though; there's Worthless, the mule who is the only other regular. She's terrific, and Amory has the perfect solution: "Let's pick one episode where she has a big part, and start writing letters."

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Before there was the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979-80, there was the Pueblo.

On January 23, 1968, the USS Pueblo, a naval ship engaged in intelligence work, was attacked and seized by North Korea, and its crew of 82 (one was killed during the attack) taken prisoner. The United States claimed the ship was in international waters and the attack unprovoked, while North Korea countered that the ship had breached the DMZ several times and was in North Korean waters at the time it was seized.

For 11 months the men of the Pueblo were abused and tortured. The commander, Lloyd Bucher, was put through a mock firing squad and other psychological tortures; later, he was told by his captors that if he didn’t confess to the North Korean accusations, his men would be brought before him and executed. Bucher finally agreed to write out and deliver a confession, but inserted a pun into his confession that the North Koreans failed to catch, saying that “We paean the DPRK [North Korea]. We paean their great leader Kim Il Sung," pronouncing the word paean as pee on. Eventually, after the United States admitted to spying and promised that no such efforts would occur in the future (a confession which the U.S. government said was made only to obtain the release of the crew), the men were released. Bucher and his crew were eventually brought before a Navy Court of Inquiry, which recommended that Bucher and his intelligence offer be court-martialed for surrendering without a fight, and failing to destroy all classified documents; the recommendation was dismissed by Secretary of the Navy John Chaffee, who said of the men that “They have suffered enough.”

Wednesday at 8:30 p.m, ABC Theatre presents an encore of Pueblo, a dramatization of the events starring Hal Holbrook as Commander Bucher. Shot on videotape (not only giving the presentation the feel of a play but also creating a claustrophobic atmosphere), the drama presents Bucher testifying before Naval officers and congressmen, explaining the choices he faced and defending the decisions he made, both onboard the Pueblo and before his captors, intercutting scenes of his testimony with his experiences in the Korean prison. You can see the complete drama here.

The drama received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for seven Emmys, winning five. Holbrook pulled off the rare accomplishment of winning two Emmys for the same performance, one for Best Actor in a Drama, and the other, a “Super Emmy” for Actor of the Year in a special (defeating miniseries winner William Holden in The Blue Knight).


Super Emmys only existed for one year; until and unless the Academy brings the category back, we'll never see anyone win two Emmys for the same performance again. 

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I've pointed out many times—it probably seems to you like many, many times—that Saturday was not always the night that nobody watched television. CBS, for instance, has it's murderer's row lineup tonight, with All in the Family (8:00 p.m. ET), M*A*S*H (8:30 p.m.), Mary Tyler Moore (9:00 p.m.), and The Bob Newhart Show (9:30 p.m.), while ABC offers The Partridge Family (8:00 pacc.m.) before the ABC Suspense Movie, and NBC's special presentation of The Green Berets (8:00 p.m.). But what I find most interesting about this Saturday is a real programming oddity: the Grammys. Now, I can't imagine scheduling a major awards show live on a Saturday night nowadays, but here it is on CBS at 10:00 p.m., from the Hollywood Palladium, hosted by Andy Williams. This year's nominees for Album of the Year are "Behind Closed Doors" (Charlie Rich), "The Divine Miss M" (Bette Midler), "Innervisions" (Stevie Wonder), "Killing Me Softly" (Roberta Flack), and "There Goes Rhymin' Simon" (Paul Simon). And the winner is: Stevie Wonder! The Record of the Year and Song of the Year both go to Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly With His Song," and the Best New Artist is Bette Midler (beating out Marie Osmond, Barry White, Maureen McGovern, and Eumir Deodato. I wonder how far over the scheduled 90 minutes (!) the broadcast runs?

As for the rest of the week, Johnny Cash is the guest killer on a memorable Columbo (Sunday, 8:30 p.m., NBC), as a country music legend who murders his wife (Ida Lupino). The relationship between Columbo and Cash's character is a fun one; at the end you can see a mutual respect between the Lieutenant and a man he knows is too honest to be able to live with the guilt of his crime.

A screenshot from the original broadcast of Heidi

Wednesday features a repeat of Heidi (8:00 p.m., NBC), starring Julie Andrews' stepdaughter Jennifer Edwards in the title role, along with Maximillian Schell, Sir Michael Redgrave and Jean Simmons. The movie was first broadcast in 1968; I can't imagine why the listings don't make any mention of its memorable debut. For all that, it makes more sense to me than ABC's Wednesday Movie of the Week, The Stranger Who Looks Like Me (8:30 p.m.), starring Meredith Baxter, Beau Bridges, and Baxter's mother, Hazel's Whitney Blake. Here's what I don't get about this—the listing talks about "two adopted youths' frustrating search for their natural parents," yet the headline in the ad proclaims, "A powerful story of a woman's search." So what the hell happened to the other adopted youth? Somebody's not giving us the straight story here. If none of these appeal to you, check out The Merv Griffin Show (8:30 p.m., WKBS), as Merv hosts the 53rd annual Photoplay Awards.

On Thursday, Buck Owens hosts Music Country U.S.A. (10:00 p.m., NBC), with a veritable who's who of country stars: Jerry Reed, Jim Ed Brown, Mac Davis, Red Simpson, Ray Stevens, Red Steagall, Charlie Rich, Lynn Anderson, Tom T. Hall, Donna Fargo, Tommy Overstreet, Barbara Fairchild, Johnny Paycheck, Doug Kershaw, and Pat Daisy. Dionne Warwicke also appears, doing a duet of "Lonesome Me" with Buck. If you aren't too worn out to stay up late, catch Lucille Ball sitting down for 90 minutes with Dick Cavett as Dick's sole guest (11:30 p.m., ABC).

Friday's the night for variety specials, starting with Raquel Welch's "one-woman show" (9:00 p.m., CBS) in which the star sings, dances, and spoofs her own movie work. That's followed by Glen Campbell's The Musical West (10:00 p.m., NBC), and this most certainly is not a "one-man show," not with a guest lineup of Burl Ives, Michele Lee, and John Wayne. And Meredith Baxter makes a second appearance of the week on ABC's late-night The Invasion of Carl Enders (11:30 p.m.); this time, she plays "a girl possessed by the spirit of a woman believed to have been murdered." I wonder if she was adopted?

t  t  t

Certainly, you know by now that I've been a fan of the manned space program since I was a child, so it's no surprise that I'd notice a couple of space-related items in this week's issue.

First, the recent splashdown of Skylab 4 has brought to an end the current era of U.S. manned flight, not to be resumed until the space shuttle comes along. It's also the occasion for ABC's science editor Jules Bergman to do some reminiscing of his own (Jimmy Stewart isn't the only one) on his years as a NASA insider. Says Bergman, "[I]t's now possible to tell some of the stories that couldn't be told before Or didn't get told for one reason or another." For example, two days before Wally Schirra's 1962 launch in Sigma 7, the astronaut almost killed himself in a waterskiing accident when his skis stuck in the mud, flinging him into the trees. Scott Carpenter, the next American into space, overshot the landing spot by 250 miles, causing the networks to wonder whether or not he'd survived. There were rumors that Carpenter had been enjoying a farewell party late into the night before; Flight Director Chris Kraft vowed Carpenter would never fly again, and he never did. Alan Shepard and Gordon Cooper, in a dress rehearsal for the first Mercury flight, teamed up to prank onlookers, with Cooper looking up at the Redstone rocket, started yelling, "I won't go! I won't go!" and attempted to break away from the two technicians accompanying him. Bergman himself was almost killed by a flying head from a dummy that had been flung out of a Vertical Accelerator at several hundred miles an hour.

Most impressive, perhaps, is Bergman's memory of Frank Borman, commander of Apollo 8, the first flight to orbit the moon. Bergman had spent six months trying to learn everything he could about the mission; "Borman's loyalty was such that he'd given me the unlisted number of his phone in the crew quarters in case I needed any last-minute questions answered." And, in fact, Bergman did have a question, on the eve of the flight. He called and left a message with one of the support crewmen; a few minutes later, Borman called back. "Hi! What's up?" I've always admired Frank Borman, and that just increases it. A real mensch.

And then there's the TV-movie premiere of Houston, We've Got a Problem on ABC Suspense Movie (Saturday, 8:30 p.m.), telling the story of Apollo 13 by focusing on the flight controllers in Houston, starring Ed Nelson as NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz. According to Jim Lovell, the commander of the flight, you shouldn't waste your time with this one: "NASA did a disservice to the flight crew and ground personnel connected with Apollo 13 by co-operating fully with this film," Lovell writes in a letter to NASA chief James Fletcher that was quoted in last week's TV Guide. "I resent the mixing of fact and fiction. If NASA wanted exposure of this nature, the story should have been based on a fictitious space flight." (The movie couldn't even get the title right; the actual quote from Lovell, after the explosion on Apollo 13, was "Houston, we've had a problem.") Herman Sanders, the movie's executive producer, replies with a remarkable candor that reflects how dense network suits can be. "We could never have gotten a straight documentary on the network," he says, "So what we did was take the basic facts and add fictional drama on top. How would you keep people in suspense, otherwise, when they all know the outcome of the story already?" I dunno; ask Ron Howard, maybe? TV